NAILS 101 | GROOMING YOUR NAILS AT HOME

Sunday, October 26, 2014

To keep your nails from breaking and your nail polish from chipping off your nails, you have to keep your nails moisturized and groomed. It's simple and fast and you only need to do this about once a week.

Things you'll need:

Nail file

Cuticle Oil

Cuticle Pusher

Cuticle Remover

Hand cream

Step 1:

File down your nails to your wished length. If you are trying to grow out your nails, only file a tiny bit of your nails to remove any ridges and breakage.

Step 2:

Apply some cuticle oil on your cuticles, I love this one from Sally Hansen. Rub the oil in and let it sit for 30 sec.

Step 3:

Now grab your cuticle pusher and as you can probably guess.. push your cuticles down. Start from the middle of your nail and push down to your cuticles.

Step 4:

With the Cuticle Remover cut away any long bits of cuticle, but be careful! I have cut myself before with this contraption. You can also get cuticle remover in liquid form, that will dissolve your cuticles in a few seconds. Those work a little better and won't give you any cuts.

Step 5:

Always finish off with some hand cream, unless you are going straight to nail polish after grooming your nails. If so, skip the hand cream and use a cotton pad with some nail polish remover to get any leftover oil of your nails. This is important, because if you don't, your nail polish won't adhere to you nails and it will probably chip off within one day or less.

Tips on applying nail polish:

1. Always apply a base coat. This will protect your nails from getting yellow and stained by the nail color you apply.

2. When you apply nail polish, make sure you don't get it on your cuticles. If you get it on your cuticles, the polish will harden around them and when your nail grows, the cuticles will get pulled up by the nail polish and that's not good for your cuticles.

3. When you apply your top coat, remember to "cap the nail". Capping the nails means apply the top coat to the tips of your nails too, you know, the area you file or cut. This will make your nail polish last longer without any chips.